"The Pentagon Memorial" by Mia

The Pentagon Memorial moved me in way I didn't think that I could be moved. We arrived to the Pentagon and the first thing that I spotted was the granite where the plane had hit. It was white and cleaner than the rest of the granite and many of the people wouldn't have noticed had it not have been dusk. The point most memorable to me was when the leaders read a speech by the Secretary of Defense seven years later in 2008. It went on to state how these men and women had been placed in heaven by the cruelest of means. Many began to cry; I was among those. There were benches over lit up water and a tree by every bench. There were hundreds of these benches right before us. We all walked around in shock never realizing before what had happened in this light. Many cried, many were stunned, and others had no idea what to do so they just stood. There are no words to say that can express the sadness that was felt. There was a bench for a little girl who had died at the age of three and the bench of her sister only a few years older. We called our parents in tears. I felt like I was drowning under the weight of this terrible tragedy. We can never repay those men, women, and children who had there lives taken from them. We can only be ever grateful that they paid the ultimate sacrifice to our country. They died by the hands of terrorists. They died realizing what was about to happen. They knew that they were going to die. They knew that they couldn't do anything about what was about to happen to them. What the terrorists never knew was that although they may have killed thousands they only made us more determined to fight back against terrorism. They can do whatever they want to America, but they can't take away our determination and our pride. We have been a country who have fought for what we wanted since the very beginning. Terrorism can take lives, but they only makes us more determined of our character. There are people who would take the lives of innocent children who knew nothing about what was going on in the world. They were willing to take the lives of mothers and fathers who had nothing to do with what was happening in the world. We are stronger than we have ever been before. We are a country of patriots. We believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We believe in justice. We can't forget the history of that day. We don't remember that day because we want to; we honor it because we need to.